The Chester Hotel in Aberdeen will launch its inaugural Festival of Scottish Food and Wine this November in support of local Aberdeenshire charities. The series of events runs until February 2018 with a finale event featuring Gleneagles’ culinary team. This year the events will raise funds for Friends of the Special Nursery, the official charity of Aberdeen’s Maternity Hospital.
The finale event taking place on February 9, 2018 will see the award-winning culinary teams from The Chester Hotel and Gleneagles come together to showcase what mentoring young chef talent can achieve. The Chester Hotel’s executive chef Kevin Dalgleish and Gleneagles’ new executive chef Simon Attridge will coach two of Scotland’s youngest and brightest culinary stars to produce a four-course dining extravaganza. Each chef will create two courses using Scotland’s finest ingredients for the 220 guests dining in The Chester Hotel’s ballroom. Guests will be able to follow the chef’s journey on both pre-recorded video and live broadcast, from visiting local suppliers to source their ingredients, to viewing the dishes being created on the night from The Chester Hotel’s kitchen. Chefs and suppliers will be interviewed and guests can ask questions throughout the evening.
The November line-up of events includes a Gin and Jazz Afternoon Tea Party (November 12) featuring a gin and champagne bar, live music and exclusive exhibition of paintings by Alexander Miller, and an already-sold-out series of pop-up fine dining events featuring Michelin starred chefs including Tom Kitchin, Martin Wishart and Brian Grigor or the Balmoral Hotel.
Graham Wood, Owner of The Chester Hotel, says: “The Chester Hotel team is very excited to launch our Festival of Fine Food and Wine as the first of a season of annual charity fundraising events. The generosity of our guest chefs agreeing to take part, as well as the take-up of tickets to date, has been beyond our expectations. We aim to grow the programme of exclusive dining events year-on-year in support of local Aberdeenshire charities whilst showcasing the very best of Scotland’s food produce and talent for locals and visitors to enjoy.
Simon Attridge, Executive Chef at Gleneagles, says: “Gleneagles is committed to the nurturing of talent and to the provision of career development opportunities. This fantastic event is testament to that commitment and has offered two young chefs valuable insight into all the pressures, excitement, challenges and opportunities that are presented to a kitchen team in a high-profile event scenario.
“It’s been a pleasure taking them on this journey – from sourcing ingredients through to service – and I hope it’s an experience from which they’ll take many learnings. We’re also delighted to have had the opportunity to play our small part in raising funds for this worthy cause.”
Tickets for the Gleneagles Finale four-course dining event go on sale today at £100 each and Afternoon Tea tickets are available priced at £50. All proceeds will go to charity. Tickets can be booked via the Events Team at The Chester Hotel on 01224 327777 or email events@chester-hotel.com.